Mortal
by Geekasauruz
Summary: Bruce had never been a fan of aliens. They were an unknown. An unpredictable threat. He saw his friendship with the Kryptonian Kal-El as an exception to these rules, and the only one that he was willing to accept. So, when an alien vessel crashes in Gotham the detective is instantly put on edge. One question rose above the rest - Is this alien friend or foe?
1. One

**_Chapter One: Strange Visitor_**

The spaceship was entirely organic, but to the unaccustomed human eye it was simply constructed of something iridescent. Neon lights flickered through the small, glass windows into the vast white-dotted darkness of Gotham and smoke swirled up from its damaged engines. Batman had been the first to discover the crashed vehicle, and he dreaded the prospect of yet another alien arriving on Earth. The place was already starting to get cluttered, and he was positive that it couldn't accommodate anymore otherworldly beings.

The man grabbed the sample analyser from his belt and scoured the crash site for a small piece of debris. It wasn't hard to find, the ship had lost most of its outer shell when it landed. The shard was like molten lead. The shape shifted, seemingly at random, taking either the organic form of its ship or geometric angles. As it moved there was no gust of wind, no sound, as if somehow it didn't even displace the air.

If he hadn't been wearing the cowl there would have been visible lines digging into Bruce's forehead. Luckily for him, no one saw just how puzzled he was by it. The debris was quickly placed into the sample analyser and it made a low rumble as it tried to identify the metal.

The results were exactly what Batman had expected, the metal was foreign. There was no substance like this on Earth, which confirmed the already obvious reality that this was an alien vessel. The question was, which planet had it originated from? The easiest way to find out would have been to ask one of the few human Green Lanterns, but they were off planet at the moment. They had an entire sector of space to monitor, and Bruce certainly wasn't going to call any of them back for something so insignificant.

He tapped on the earpiece fitted into his cowl. "Penny-One, contact Kal-El." He instructed before the butler had the chance to greet him. Bruce was a paranoid man and insisted on using code names when addressing people over comms.

"Understood, Master Wayne." Alfred answered immediately.

Bruce proceeded to inspect the wreckage once more, kneeling by it and running gloved fingers against the multitude of hull plates scattered amongst the rubble. Being thorough was one of Bruce's specialities; if he was posed with a riddle, he'd analyse it, dissect it, break it down, then piece it back together with an answer attached. He never missed anything...but sometimes he needed another perspective.

"It's not often that you ask for help; I'm flattered." A welcoming and confident voice quipped. Bruce could practically hear the smile on Superman's face as he stood from his crouch.

"Don't get used to it. And all I need is an opinion." He replied.

When he turned, he saw Superman standing tall with his arms crossed and a pleasant smile plastered across his face. The moonlight seemed to ignite the crest on his chest; the crest of his Kryptonian heritage but also, rather coincidentally, the letter S in English.

"Sure thing, Bruce."

Bruce winced at the mention of his name. He didn't know how Clark could be so careless with their identities... Still, he knew Clark well enough to know that he wouldn't have used his name if there was anyone within hearing distance. Bruce directed towards the vessel without another word.

The tall and broad man peered downwards at the wreck, squinting as if he was trying to see far into the distance. "Hmm... This is... astounding. I haven't seen anything like this before. It appears to be alive, on the cellular level. Whoever made this craft must see no difference between engineering and biology. It's incredible."

Bruce kept his eyes on the Kryptonian. He watched his face, kept a keen eye out for any nervous ticks, involuntary reactions, anything. "Doesn't look familiar?" He pressed.

With a deep sigh, Superman turned to face his colleague. "It's not Kryptonian, if that's what's you're asking."

Bruce met the man's disappointed frown with a grimace. He trusted someone's face more than their words, and had good cause to.

Superman continued "But you could've told me that."

There were several seconds of silence as the men stared at each other. Superman wasn't a fan of Bruce's tendency to play with his cards close to his chest, especially since he considered Bruce to be a friend. No matter how close Bruce would get to someone, that tendency would never change...and that lack of trust affected Clark more than most.

"I have to go. Plane's going down in the Pacific." Clark said with another heavy exhale. "Keep me posted on this. Stick to crime lords and let me handle the interstellar refugees."

As soon as that last word left his mouth, Superman morphed into a blue blur and fired into the air like a rocket. A sonic boom promptly answered his disappearance. Bruce took a brief glance at the sky, ignoring the harsh wind that resulted from Clark's swift exit. Their relationship had been crumbling ever since Clark had started consorting with the vigilante ironically named Reaper.

There was a time, not long ago, that Bruce would have trusted Clark with his life. Now that he associated himself with a murderer though... his trust had been disintegrating every day. They were back where they started; working together but under constant tension.

Bruce looked over the outer shell of the ship one last time before finally investigating the inside. A sensor still strapped to his side started beeping the moment he moved into the vessel. Instinctively, Bruce reached for it and narrowed his eyes at the chart that had appeared on its screen. There was something there... Invisible to the naked eye. Bruce could only assume that it was radiation of some sort, but he'd have to ask more professional opinion to be sure.

He didn't spend too much time on the inside. It was cramped and only designed for a single person. Apart from the chair, navigation systems, and a strange device near the front, it was all but empty. It seemed pointless to spend more than a minute or two exploring it.

Before any unfortunate citizens of Gotham could stumble across such an unsettling sight, Bruce had moved the wreckage to his Batcave. There it stayed for a few days while he waited for Hal to return to Earth. He hadn't made much progress when that time came, all he had managed to figure out was that the strange waves were originating from the alien device on the ship.

"You thought this thing was leaking radiation?" Hal Jordan laughed when he finally got the chance to look at it, right hand projecting a glowing green device as he grinned playfully at Bruce.

Bruce stood behind the Green Lantern, dressed in his Batsuit with its cowl pulled off his face. Arms crossed, he rolled his eyes at Hal's jab."I don't have an alien supercomputer on my ring finger."

Hal nodded, dropping his usual facetiousness. "Jokes aside, no piece of equipment on Earth could've accurately processed these frequencies."

"Frequencies? You're saying it's just emitting...ultrasonics?"

"Yeah. On a scale that doesn't even exist in human science as of yet. Clark could probably only hear this stuff up close...which explains why he isn't here politely asking you to turn it off."

The energy construct emerging from his ring changed shape, forming a different intricate piece of equipment. All this did for Bruce was make him feel even more insignificant. He was a verified genius; he knew his way around a crime scene, a laboratory, a person's mind and the legal system, but when faced with the extra-terrestrial, he felt like the class idiot. And it frustrated him. Angered him.

Suddenly, the cave was flooded with a shrill series of pops, slurps and crackles. "Sounds like...a language. Ring, identify." Hal commanded.

The robotic voice of the power ring's processer promptly answered with "Unlisted dialect, unknown origin. Adding to database."

"Well, congratulations Bruce... You've discovered a new species. Even the most well-travelled Lanterns don't get to say that often."

Bruce only furrowed his brow further. "I thought the Guardians knew everything."

"C'mon Bruce, that's one big universe out there. New discoveries are being made every day. Despite what you'd want, no one can have all the answers. The Guardians are smart, but that doesn't make them gods." The Green Lantern's ring formed yet another separate device, which zoomed over to Bruce's computer and plugged itself into one of the USB ports. "Ring, cross-reference databanks for any linguistically and aurally similar dialects and transfer data to partnered device."

The ring chirped "Copying two hundred and seventy-two database entries. Working..."

Hal then relinquished his focus on his other constructs, which faded into thin air, stopping the flow of the odd language. "I'm sorry I can't stick around to give you a hand with this, but I'm giving you everything you'd need to crack it. A Rosetta stone of sorts."

"How unfortunate." Bruce said with a slight sting of sarcasm.

"It's been weeks though. If this character is dangerous, they would've made some kind of impact already."

"What if it's studying us? Observing?"

"It could be scared. Terrified, even." Hal tried to reason with him.

"There isn't anything more dangerous than a terrified animal."

Silence filled the room like poisonous gas. Hal knew he should've expected this from someone like Bruce, but it still didn't make him any less wary of his thought process. "But they're not animals, Bruce. They're people."

The frown on Bruce's face intensified. "People are animals."

Hal sighed and shook his head. "Whatever, man. Just try and be hospitable to our new visitor. First impressions can either make friends or start wars."

Bruce's expression didn't change. His eyes were sharp and his mouth was tightened into a frown.

"Uh... better yet, maybe just call Clark or me when you figure something out." Hal added. "You'll probably scare them off."

The scowling man narrowed his eyes at Hal, who found it pretty easy to ignore. Once you've known Bruce for a while it became natural to shrug off his attitude. Without another word Hal flew out of the Batcave. He'd been there so often that he'd memorised all the quickest exits.

Bruce wasn't exactly pleased with the idea of passing this case off to more qualified heroes, but at least now he didn't feel completely useless. He could use the data Hal gave him to decipher the language found in the ship, and maybe then he'd be satisfied with the amount of information he'd contributed. Despite intergalactic issues not being his strong suite, the vessel had crashed in Gotham... his city. No one was going to prevent his involvement.

Every night he went out into the streets of Gotham, fighting crime and searching for the alien that owned the space craft. When the sun was up, however, he spent all his time attempting to understand the strange alien language. It left little time for rest, much to Alfred's dismay.

Two weeks after discovering the wreckage, Bruce had only managed to learn one word and four letters. It was much more complicated than he had originally suspected. Still, he was making faster progress than most others would have been able to. Nevertheless he was growing irritated just staring at a screen all day and hearing foreign words that sounded, to him, like someone was drowning and gagging up sea water.

He left for his usual prowl around Gotham earlier than usual. It made hiding in the shadows a little harder when there were barely any there, but it didn't inconvenience him too much. If there was one thing that Bruce was good at, it was adapting.

Crime seemed more numerous at this time, likely because the villains didn't expect to see Batman out so early. He uncovered a smuggling ring, stopped a bunch of thieves planning to rob the richer areas of Gotham, and then finally stumbled across a group of escaped felons.

He'd been chasing them in the Batmobile when it happened. They had just turned a corner, and the minute that Bruce followed them he heard a loud crash. The criminals had hit something... something so solid and strong that it had wrapped the car around it; forming a half moon shape.

Bruce had to make a sharp brake and swerve out of the vehicles way just to make sure he didn't hit it. He exited his car and narrowed his gaze at the destruction. The car was still on the road, so what could it possibly have hit to cause that much damage?

His answer came whether he wanted it or not. From the front of the vehicle came something unlike anything he'd ever seen before. It was tall and with a humanoid shaped body - it appeared to have a similar skeletal structure as the people of Earth but that was the only thing that they had in common.

It's skin looked like it was... alive; moving, pulsating, and morphing. It was grey, completely, like their atmosphere had zapped all the colour from them. More troubling than all of that was its face or lack thereof. There was nothing there, just a blank slate covered in that thumping skin. There were no eyes, no mouth, no sensory organs of any kind. For a species with a form comparable to humans this wasn't exactly normal... at least not from the very few aliens that Bruce had encountered.

The creature pulled the door off of the car much too easily, and when it reached on he heard the criminals screaming. It yanked out one of them but his body was so mangled that Bruce wasn't certain how he had survived.

The thug couldn't fight. He was barely conscious enough to register what was happening. The creature lifted his broken body by the neck, and with such strength Bruce knew that it would only take a split second for it to kill the man.

His jaw tightened, and with no more delay, he growled the one word he had learnt in its language - 'stop'. This seemed to grab its attention as it's head snapped in his direction. He could tell that it was looking at him, but he couldn't determine how exactly. It had no eyes, so maybe its visual senses came from sound and vibrations.

That was the theory, at least until the pulsating skin on its face began to crawl away. It receded and joined a darker patch on the neck. Now when Bruce looked at it the aliens face resembled that of a human woman's - all sensory organs included. He quickly realised that the odd substance covering her body was intended to be a suit, it wasn't actually connected to her at all.

"Your accent is terrible." She spoke in perfect English.

Bruce was seldom surprised, but this definitely knocked him back a few notches. He didn't let it show, of course, but the fact that she knew their language was both confusing and worrisome.

"You know English." He stated lowly, his hostility growing.

"It took exactly 14 local planetary rotations to master your language. It is primitive at best." She responded bluntly.

Two weeks... It had taken her no longer than a fortnight to almost fluently learn English, in the same amount of time Bruce had only figured out one word. Her species must have been more biologically advanced than humans, which was even more alarming than her landing on Earth.

"What do you want?" Batman snapped back rather vaguely, but he could tell that she knew what he meant.

"The same thing that you want." She replied, directing towards the criminal slowly choking in her hand. "To free this planet of barbarism."

His teeth clenched at the sight of the dying man and he spat back "Let him go."

The alien's brow furrowed. "I do not understand..."

Bruce took a cautious but threatening step forward, seemingly unafraid of her brute strength. "Let. Him. Go."

The alien's posture didn't change, but the timbre of her voice did slightly. "This man is a criminal, is he not? I understand that voiding governing legislature in this territory is punishable by death."

"That isn't your decision to make. If you take his life now, you're no better than he is. You'll be worse." Bruce growled.

After several tense seconds, the woman dropped the man from her vice grip, and he collapsed onto the ground in a mangled mess. Bruce could hear what was left of his skeleton snap but somehow he still drew breathe.

"A court system...? Hmpf. I will respect your laws, but I believe them to be a most inefficient solution."

Bruce didn't believe for a second that she was here to help. He'd been witness to this kind of act before, but he also wasn't in a position to engage someone with this kind of strength. There was no way he'd come out on top, primarily due to this alien's willingness to kill.

"Get out of my city."

"I do not answer to you. Besides, this 'city' is a seething cesspool, overrun with delinquency and greed. I determined that this area required the most immediate attention." The alien slowly hovered into the air, Bruce watching intently. "We will likely meet again. I hope it is under more convenient circumstances."

Bruce was starting to become highly irritated with people flying away from conversations but, alas, this alien did the same thing. As she disappeared into the sky he was left, as usual, glaring at the mist-like clouds swirling above Gotham; pessimistic thoughts running through his head and deducting ways to prepare for the inevitable fight she was going to bring.

———————————

_**Author's Note**: This story is part of my DC series, which consists of eight stories (Invincible, Escape Velocity, Throne of Atlantis, Inhuman, Mortal, Peacekeeper, Elysium, and Legacy). It's not necessary to read them all if you're not interested, but they will link together as if they were operating within the same universe._


	2. Two

**_Chapter Two: Tipping of the Scales_**

The rest of the week consisted mainly of failed attempts at decoding the alien language. Bruce had only managed to translate two more letters by the time Hal returned to Earth. They weren't of any use in learning new words, and honestly Bruce was becoming highly irritated with the entire project. As a distraction, he had started redesigning a few of his gadgets and vehicles... Even this didn't help him forget the fact that he was failing.

"You saw the alien?" Hal asked eagerly when he arrived in the Batcave. "What did you learn?"

Bruce walked right passed the Green Lantern as if he wasn't there at all. He stopped in front of the Batmobile and popped the hood, starting to tinker with the engine. "Not enough."

Hal inhaled sharply, twisting the ring on his finger with a frown. "You mean to tell me that you met an entirely new alien species and you learnt nothing?! Dude, I've gotta put them into the database, I can't do that with no information."

Bruce didn't reply this time. Instead, he grabbed a wrench from the nearby table and continued altering the inside of his car. He didn't feel like he needed to explain himself, especially not to someone like Hal who was the most reckless person in the League.

Hal, on the other hand, seemed persistent. He marched closer to the man and shut the hood of the Batmobile, almost crushing Bruce's hands in the process. Thankfully, he managed to move them just in time but this did grant Hal a particularly angry glare.

"You scared them off, didn't you?" Hal asked, this time hoping that he had Bruce's full attention. "I told you not to approach them without me or Clark! The last thing anyone wants to see on a new planet is some grumpy old man growling at them like a rabid dog."

The man's expression darkened but Hal didn't seem to notice. He had grown so use to Bruce's brooding that it was now a regular part of visiting him.

"Look, is there anything you can tell me... Anything at all?" He tried again, this time a little calmer than before.

"I can tell you that it's dangerous." Bruce answered lowly. "It learnt our language, almost fluently, in two weeks."

"Biologically advanced..." Hal stated, amused by Bruce's scepticism. "That's not unheard of. I know a race just a few galaxies over called the 'Sarkor', and they could memorise a language within hours... They do have shorter life spans though. Think they die within a month of their birth."

"Don't suppose we'll be fortunate enough for this visitor to die before it appears again..." Bruce said darkly.

"What is wrong with you?" Hal sighed in disbelief. Just when he thought Bruce couldn't get anymore cynical, he proved him wrong. "This alien hasn't done anything to warrant your hatred."

"It almost killed someone." Bruce growled, but Hal didn't even look surprised by this. "I had to inform it that it's not acceptable here."

"But they didn't, right? Alien species have different laws and governments, they probably didn't know how ours worked. The important thing is that they stopped when you told them to. Give them a little credit..."

Bruce's face contorted in displeasure. He didn't think that he needed to praise someone for not being a murderer. It didn't matter where it was from, he wasn't willing to accept any fowl behaviour on his planet.

"Oh, right, forgot who I was talking to." Hal rolled his eyes and leaned against the Batmobile. "Anything else you noticed about them?"

"It was wearing a suit. Looked like a similar organic material to the ship."

At this Hal seemed to perk up a little, his brow raising in curiosity. "Really?... Did this suit move at all? I mean, did it look alive?"

"That mean something to you?"

"There are exceptions, but I've found through my travels that if it looks alive, it usually is." Hal informed him.

Bruce's eyes squinted into slits and his hands clenched into fists. "Slavery..."

"We don't know that for certain yet." Hal quickly responded. "I'm gonna go find them. Can you tell me what they looked like?"

"I can tell you that it didn't look like an alien." Bruce placed the wrench back on the tall metal table and crossed his arms over his chest. "It had the appearance of a human female."

"That doesn't mean they're the female of their species... Trust me, I found that out the hard way." Hal laughed nervously, hand reaching up to rub the back of his neck. It only took one look from Bruce for him to drop the subject entirely and clear his throat. "Ah... Right, anyway, could you give me specifics? There's a lot of human looking women on this planet."

Bruce, as per usual, didn't reply with words. Instead he sauntered over to his giant monitor and pressed his finger onto the screen, right over an image of a video camera. He recorded all of his encounters, he didn't understand how none of the others felt it necessary.

On the computer appeared a video of the alien. Once the helmet left their face Hal could see what Bruce meant by them being a humanoid. Much like Clark, and Kryptonian's in general, there was nothing to seperate them from the general public... except their eyes.

They were, quite literally, like looking into the deepest and emptiest vacuums of space. Now, Hal knew a few humans with eyes so dark that they appeared black in certain lights... but it was nothing like this. This was like a void, or a black hole, and the longer you stared the further they sucked you in. She was fairly tall too, about the exact same height as Bruce... which would make her at least 6'1.

"You could've started with that footage... I might not have had to ask you so many questions."

Bruce ignored Hal and simply stated "I'm meeting with Clark and Diana. They need to know that we have a potential situation on our hands."

"Good idea." Hal nodded. "Just try not to exaggerate things. This alien's a visitor, not an enemy."

"Not yet..."

Hal sighed and shook his head in defeat. It was obviously impossibly to change Bruce's unwarranted judgment, but that was what made him a valuable member of the league. "Whatever, Bruce. Just let Clark know that I might need him standing by."

\--

Bruce would've preferred to meet at the Watchtower, but Clark insisted that they make use of the Hall of Justice. Using that old building now that they had an orbital satellite base seemed pointless to him.

Bruce was early as usual, so he spent some time on the monitor station, keeping watch. Diana was the second to arrive, and she simply greeted Bruce with "Nice to see you out and about again, Bruce."

He replied with a "Hmpf."

She stood by his shoulder, dwarfing him both in height and size. Diana was an Amazon, and thus she was built like an athlete. "Looking for anyone in particular?"

"It's why I called this meeting. We'll start when Clark gets here."

As if he heard this, which is completely reasonable, Clark's voice jested "Then let's get to it. Diana, Bruce."

"Clark." Diana nodded.

Bruce turned from the terminal and huffed "You're late. Again."

Clark smirked. "Sorry, train was going off the rails in Japan. A slight detour. What's going on?"

As Clark approached Bruce and Diana at the terminal, Bruce spoke "I've encountered an unidentified alien life form. No matches on the Oan database."

He played back the footage recorded on his cowl the night of the encounter, as Clark and Diana watched intently. "It almost killed someone in Gotham. I'd rather that if it tries again, someone can stop it."

Clark raised a dark eyebrow at his friend. "It doesn't look like you had to force her hand, Bruce... Considering what she did to that truck, it would have been all too easy for her to kill that man if she wanted to. She chose not to though."

"You may be fabricating this so called 'threat', Bruce." Diana said calmly.

"At the very least you're exaggerating the situation." Clark added. "It wouldn't be the first time..."

Bruce sneered at their lack of caution. They made him seem insane whenever they wrote off his wariness like that. He was aware that it was possible that the the alien was friendly, but he wasn't willing to take the risk of it wasn't.

"I can look into it if it'll put your mind at ease." Clark suggested. "Where is this visitor?"

Right on cue there was a loud bang that sounded from the opposite end of the room. As if by instinct, Bruce pulled his cowl on and took gratitude in the fact that he was still in costume - as were Clark and Diana.

The wall to the Hall of Justice crumbled, creating a rather large hole in its structure. From this appeared the very being that they had been discussing. In a millisecond they had gone from one end of the room to the other and sat in one of the empty chairs.

She gazed at the strangers around her, putting her feet up on the round table.

"I'm assuming that's her?" Clark asked genuinely.

Bruce grunted his response and shot a glare in her direction. That would cost thousands of dollars to fix... and that was if she kept the security system in check.

"I heard you were looking for me." She said bluntly. "You can inform the Green Lantern that you've found me... or that I've found you. Whichever works."

Batman tapped the earpiece built into his cowl and growled "It's here."

Superman shot him a disapproving glare, obviously not agreeing with how he addressed their visitor. "No need to be rude, Bruce."

Batman narrowed his eyes at the man with equal displeasure. He knew full well that Clark had used his real name on purpose to agitate him and perhaps make it clear that he wasn't happy with how Bruce was treating their new guest.

"Enough." Diana commanded with urgency. "We are making a poor first impression."

The two men stopped their arguing almost instantly, mainly because Clark recognised this as a problem.

"I'm...sorry." He apologised politely to the alien. "I'm afraid that we haven't been very hospitable."

"What is it that you want?" Diana asked, cutting to the chase much to Bruce's approval.

The alien pushed to her feet just as Hal Jordan came barrelling through the door, power ring alight. Upon spotting the gaping hole in the wall, he quipped "You know, we like to use doors around here."

"They were locked."

"...Fair point..."

Bruce interjected "What do you want?"

The alien pushed upwards, and gazed towards the four beings staring over her. "I told you before. I am an agent of the Principality. I am here to help."

"See, Bruce?" Superman said with a grin. "She's here to help."

"Just because it says so, doesn't mean it's true." Batman hissed back. "You have no reason to trust it."

"And you have no reason to condemn her."

The alien stood, more than a little amused by their bickering. "These are the things you Earthlings fight about? So primitive..."

"Well, technically, I'm an alien too." Superman joked lightheartedly.

"And yet you squabble like the humans. Whatever you were born as doesn't matter, you're more human than alien now. That's quite sad... I'll hope to not follow in your footsteps." Everyone in the room stared at her wide eyed, unsure how to react to her words. Even Hal always had a problem with aliens deeming humans as inferior... "If it settles your debate, I'll leave."

"N-No! Wait, I have to ask you a few questions." Hal quickly informed her before she had the chance to leave.

She froze in place, contemplating her next move.

Hal continued "All we want is to know what it is you're trying to do here. This planet is under our protection. Surely you understand our caution. What is this Principality you serve?"

"The Principality of Ohrys is a coalition of races, banded together to fight against oppression. My people were farmed like cattle on our homeworld, bred to die in order to feed the race of predators that hunted us. It was only a matter of time until we revolted, and thus the Principality was born. We seek to relieve the universe from tyranny, in whatever form."

Hal made sure his ring was recording this testimony, before he asked another question "You were the only one sent?"

"I am to work with you. To learn your customs in order to better your world's society. In this case, terminate rampant crime."

Clark crossed his arms. "As long as you follow our laws, that won't be a problem."

"I have done in depth research on every law in each corner of this world. That should not be difficult." She replied, giving Batman one final glance before sauntering away again.

"One more thing." Hal called out after her. "You are... female, right?"

The woman made a noise in her throat, one that sounded like a mixture of a scoff and a chuckle. "Not obvious enough for you?"

"I'll take that as a yes." Hal swiftly replied, and this time he didn't interrupt her as she left the building... through the giant hole she had made.

Clark shrugged "I'll fix that up..."

"Yeah...and I'd better log this for the Guardians. They'd want to know about a previously undiscovered race showing up for the first time outta nowhere."

By the time Hal had vanished Clark was already done fixing the wall. Diana had left soon after, likely on a previous engagement, and that just left the Bruce with Clark... which wasn't preferable considering the tension still laying thick upon them.

Silence fell over the Hall of Justice, and though it didn't last long, it was enough to make the atmosphere even more awkward.

"I'd... better get going, Bruce." Clark said, trying to muster the last shreds of trust they had in one another.

"Back to the murderer?" Bruce grunted harshly.

Clark's face twisted into an expression that rarely made itself seen on him...a fierce grimace. "That's quite enough." He boomed.

"I thought you were better than this."

Clark's eyes almost burned with anger as he slowly approached Bruce, whose muscles twitched as the Man of Steel neared him.

"That makes two of us." Clark muttered. For a moment he looked so intimidating that Bruce thought he might be chucked against a wall, before that could happen though, Clark bursted into the air and back out the door.

Bruce stared at the exit with a dark expression. It seemed like everything was going wrong of late, but his depleting friendship with Clark was undoubtedly the most worrying... and it was all because he was still dating that disgusting excuse for a human being - Silvia Stone. The Reaper. A murdering, thieving wrench that only recently turned over a new leaf, or so he said. Bruce didn't believe it for a minute. He wasn't going to be fooled by anyone, not her, and especially not the alien still lurking around.


	3. Three

**_Chapter Three: Blackjack_**

Bruce Wayne wasn't usually puzzled...so when this rare occurrence came to happen, he was understandably irritated. Gotham's criminal underground had become practically nonexistent within several days. He knew that they had to be running scared, but he wasn't entirely sure why. He had a theory...but a theory was nothing without proof.

He knelt by the edge of a rooftop, keenly watching the happenings below everything in Gotham was being bombarded by rain. A young blonde girl stood waiting on a balcony. Like a ghost, a caped figure curled up over the railing and stood beside her.

"Do you have anything for me?" Robin asked the girl. Bruce monitored the conversation through his earpiece.

The girl seemed used to being snuck up on, so she surely answered "Dad said he can't do anything bad for a while. He said someone nasty is coming...and that its not you."

"He didn't say who?"

"No...no he didn't." She said innocently.

Robin smiled and tousled the girl's hair. She was about five years younger than the Boy Wonder, and a head shorter. "I know what it's like to be where you are. You're real brave for helping me and Batman out. This is our little secret, right?"

"Yes. Can I ask you a question now?"

"Sure thing."

The girl blinked nervously. "Can you tell me your...your real name?"

Bruce wanted to urge Robin to leave...but instead, his young partner continued smiling and remained with the girl. Hesitantly, he whispered "My name's Jason."

"Thank you..."

"No, thank you Stephanie."

With that, Robin disappeared into the shadows. Several seconds later, he reappeared alongside Bruce.

Young Jason was about sixteen years old. He wore the red and black uniform of the Robin mantle, a title that Bruce wasn't too eager to pass on. Dick Grayson adopted the name of Nightwing after a falling out with Batman, who'd gone solo for some time. He eventually stumbled upon Jason Todd, a street rat in which he saw untapped potential. Now, he was the second Robin...and hopefully, on a journey to become something better.

"You get all that?" He asked his mentor.

Bruce nodded.

"Your theory's got some weight...question is; where to now?" Robin mused.

Bruce huffed and pressed a finger against his earpiece. "Penny-One. Run a scan for any crimes in progress."

"Of course, sir. Any parameters in particular?"

"High profile incidents. Easily identifiable by someone with superhuman senses." Bruce clarified.

As Alfred worked on the search, Bruce turned his eyes to Robin. He crouched on the edge just as Bruce did several minutes ago, suit and hair drenched in the current downpour.

Secretly, he felt for Jason. His father was sentenced to prison for a long string of crimes, and his mother died from her drug addiction. Unlike Bruce, Jason grew up on the streets. He knew the city in a way Bruce never would. He never doubted his conviction until he met Jason. Bruce had a butler, a mansion and immense funds when he was dealing with his loss. Jason only had poverty and true loneliness.

"I seem to have found what you were looking for, Master Bruce. There is a feud between metahumans in the upper east Diamond District. Extreme collateral damage."

"Well...that's definitely a lead." Robin quipped. "Good work. Give us the co-ordinates. Thanks Alfred."

The Diamond District was one of the wealthiest parts of Gotham, though that wasn't saying much. The people there were mostly free from any attacks, but on the rare occasion that there was one, they were thrown completely off guard.

The situation that Batman and Robin stumbled into was unexpected to say the least. The moment they got there the streets were almost deserted and someone was already fighting against the threat.

Batman growled low in his throat. It was the alien... She was in the midst of a battle with The Royal Flush Gang - A family of crooks that preyed on Gotham's weakest known only as The King, Queen, Jack, And Ace. The last member, Ten, was nowhere to be seen. Hacking was his specialty, and so he seemed to stray away from physical confrontation unless it was necessary.

"I grow tired of your games." The alien roared, crossing her arms and furrowing her brow. "You will tell me of which crimes you are guilty, or I will force you to."

The King laughed and unsheathed his sword. "We choose force."

"That is unwise." The alien huffed, though she glanced at the weapon with much caution. Human technology and weaponry must have been foreign to her, and she didn't seem the type to underestimate her foes.

Jack, without warning, threw one of his throwing knives in her direction. The weapon split into four seperate blades in mid-air and went spiralling in her direction.

Before Batman had the chance to stop him, Robin dashed into the fray. Bruce reached out to stop him, but by then it was too late.

Robin twirled in mid-air as he sent a handful of birdarangs soaring into Jack's knives, deflecting each and every one of them.

"It's the Bat!!" Jack cried.

Robin landed on top of Jack, thrusting him into the ground and pounding his face with punch after punch.

Bruce leapt off of the rooftop and flared out his cape, gliding downwards and tossing a disabler onto King's hover board as he came flying towards him. Bruce twisted, narrowly avoiding the King's blade, then pressed a button on his gauntlet. The disabler shrieked and flared, instantly deactivating the hover board.

The King fell out of the air screaming and landed with a crack on the pavement.

Robin's knuckles were covered in Jack's blood as he gritted his teeth and continued beating the criminal's face to a pulp.

"No!! What have you done?!" Queen howled, bringing her staff to arms and aiming it at Robin.

Bruce's heart stopped as he landed. He didn't have time. He was too far away.

As if prompted by Bruce's thoughts, the alien suddenly appeared in front of the Queen as her weapon discharged a payload of lethal electricity.

Incredibly, the alien simply grunted as its armour smoked, and effortlessly snatched the staff out of the Queen's hands. She struck the woman with a headbutt, which propelled the helpless human into a telephone pole. The alien then snapped the staff like a twig.

Robin whistled. "...I guess she didn't need our help." He wiped the blood from his face as Bruce rushed over to Jack.

His injuries were severe...incredibly severe. Fractured skull, broken nose, shattered collarbone, broken jaw...perhaps even brain damage.

Before Bruce could say anything, Ace came roaring into the alien, locking fists with her and roaring like a fierce animal. The robotic brute was almost twice her size.

The alien's feet were pressed into the concrete, cracking and breaking the dense material. She simply wrenched Ace to the side with a sharp yell and pulled an arm off of the android.

The robot shivered and its wound sparked uncontrollably as the alien prepared its final strike. She lashed forward with a hand and sent it straight through Ace's head. It shattered from the sheer force, and Bruce leapt onto Robin and covered him with his cape.

Ace's body detonated like a bomb, flooding the immediate vicinity with fire and shrapnel.

As soon as it calmed, Bruce peered over his shoulder and spied the alien standing there amidst the flames, unharmed. Jack, not only suffering extreme cranial injury, was now subject to third degree burns. King and Queen were mildly singed, but hurt nonetheless.

Bruce stood and snarled. "Robin. Look at what you did."

The Boy Wonder pushed to his feet and gazed upon Jack, without remorse.

"Penny-One, I need an ambulance and the police at my location." He said into his earpiece.

"... They're on their way." Alfred replied lowly. "Is everything alright, Master Todd?"

"Everything's fine." Was Robin's short reply before tapping off the earpiece.

The alien floated towards them, face still covered by her strange armour. "You're assistance was unnecessary. You have made the situation worse than it needed to be."

Bruce seemed to ignore her. He wasn't done with Jason yet...he needed to be disciplined. Being Robin was never supposed to be about needless violence. That was something Jason didn't understand...there was too much rage inside of him.

"What you did was dangerous. Those people were burned in the explosion." Bruce scalded.

The alien quickly rebutted with genuine confusion "Why do you care for the wellbeing of this degenerative slime?"

"I know, right? Don't they deserve this?" Robin said.

Bruce bared his teeth. "No one deserves brain damage."

Robin dropped his head. "I-I'm sorry...I didn't mean..."

"But you did." Bruce snapped.

"They were not killed, is that not the main principle that you Earthlings uphold?" The alien interrupted. "In which case this argument is invalid."

"He could have permanent injuries because of this." Batman growled, directing towards the unconscious Jack. "There are some things worse than death."

The alien glanced from him to Robin then back again, even she could sense the tension lingering between them. "I did not cause the explosion, and if you had not involved yourselves it would not have escalated this far. My only intention was to convict them by your primitive laws, not to cause damage."

"Are you serious...? I was only trying to help you." Robin huffed.

"And you only made a mess of the situation." She said bluntly. "I cannot arrest them if they are hospital bound. You have both wasted my time."

Finally everything appeared crystal clear before Bruce's eyes but, as if on cue, Robin spoke for him. "So you're the reason half of the criminal element is running scared."

"I don't know what your game is, alien." Bruce spat out the word as if it were poison on his tongue. "But this is my city. Cleaning the streets isn't your job."

"It is now." The alien replied. "This is the filthiest cesspool of turmoil I've ever encountered. Whoever was entrusted with keeping Gotham safe before I arrived was doing an incredibly poor job."

Robin laughed in disbelief. "With you in charge, there won't be a city left to protect." He said, gesturing at the wreckage that already littered the street before the Dynamic Duo arrived. "Who the hell are you, anyway?"

"You degenerative beings would not be able to comprehend, let alone speak, my name."

Robin scoffed. "Then who's name do I put on the bill for all this?"

The alien paused for a moment then, straightening her posture, hovered higher into the air. "Rahn." Like a comet, she streaked away within the blink of an eye.

"It was a joke." Robin muttered to himself.

Bruce, after watching with relief as the alien left, finally let his anger come gushing out. "You're done, Jason. Until you sort yourself out, I'm taking the suit."

Robin's eyes widened but he didn't argue... He'd seen this coming for a while. They fought every time they went crime fighting, and Bruce threatened him enough times to convince him that he'd lose his position soon.

"This man won't be able to live a normal life anymore." Bruce added, outrage visible even with the cowl covering most of his face.

Seconds passed, and Robin's face warped into a grimace. "Good."

Bruce's breathing stopped. He wanted to save Jason from this...from becoming the next Joe Chill. But he failed... No matter what he did, Jason wouldn't see the bigger picture.

Jason, without a second glance, swiftly scaled the nearest building just as the emergency services arrived. Batman was left in the middle of a mess he hadn't made... as usual.


End file.
